The present invention relates broadly to devices for filtering particulate material from a gaseous medium. The present invention finds particular application to industrial cabinet-type collectors. Cabinet collectors are used to collect shavings, filings, and the like, produced in machining, grinding or cutting processes, and to collect dust in industrial and pharmaceutical settings. An intake or suction nozzle is placed adjacent a machining tool to collect the particulate material produced during the machining process. The particulate material-laden air is transported to a plenum containing a filtering element which removes a substantial portion of the particulate material from the air.
One type of filter utilized in cabinet collectors is made of pouches sewn from cotton sateen with an internal wire mesh separator. As particulate material collects upon the pouches, a cleaning operation must be performed to remove the particulate material. The pouches may be periodically cleaned by a foot-operated mechanism which shakes the filters or by a motor-driven mechanism which also shakes the filter pouches.
The present invention relates to a novel apparatus for cleaning the particulate material collected upon a filter made of a pleated porous media. By pleating a porous media a large amount of filtering surface can be confined in a small area. Thus, a filter made of a pleated porous media has a larger filtering surface than a conventional bag or pouch filter.